


Things Will Get Better Soon, Right?

by DivergentMage



Category: Magisterium Series - Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Character Study, F/M, Gen, No Beta, This was so self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27869142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivergentMage/pseuds/DivergentMage
Summary: A character study of Alex Strike. Not a villain, but a tragedy.
Relationships: Alex Strike & Drew Wallace, Anastasia Tarquin & Alex Strike, Kimiya Rajavi/Alex Strike
Kudos: 5





	Things Will Get Better Soon, Right?

Alex, he was never born to be the villain. He was happy at first, he was a skilled mage, he was popular, and all was normal. Better than normal. Then his mother had died. His father remarried within the same year. Her name was Anastasia, and Alex didn’t trust her one bit. But he smiled, because maybe if he pretended everything was fine, it would all be okay. 

Then his father had died. He was thirteen. He didn’t know what to think. His father had always been a steady constant in his life. But then Anastasia had come to him and told him that she could help him. How?! He had screamed at her. He’s dead and now he’s never coming back. 

But then he met Master Joseph. Almost impossible stories about the Enemy were shoved into his head, and they turned and twisted his head around. The Enemy, he left behind such an imprint. Maybe if he had stayed with them then the people that he cared about wouldn’t leave him anymore. 

And then he had met Drew. Drew was just a child, he was always so happy, and well, maybe he did have a bit of an obsession with ponies. But over time, he became like a brother to Alex. When he met Drew, he realized just how long it had been since he smiled.

Then he returned to the Magisterium. The masters were fools, they couldn’t see that they had picked the Enemy. But something was wrong about him.  _ This _ was the Enemy? He was supposed to be powerful, he was supposed to save them all, but here this mere boy, he didn’t even want to go to the Magisterium. Yet he still smiled and tried to befriend him. Maybe if he pretended that everything was going to plan, it would all turn out okay. 

Then he had received news that Drew was dead. He felt hollow. Why did the people that he cared about keep on leaving him? Was there something  _ wrong _ with him? And while the rest of the apprentices felt nothing, he cried for the first time in ages. Drew was gone, and Call was responsible. Alex didn’t care  _ what _ Master Joseph had said about him. This was a mistake.

Then, Kimiya. She was wonderful, she was nice and she loved him. Alex smiled. Maybe this time things would be different. But then, the more he got to know the Rajavi’s, the more he realized how cold they were. They didn’t care about anyone but themselves. But Kimiya was different, right? He was wrong. When he needed her the most, she refused to stand up for them, for  _ him. _ Alex walked away, better to lose her now, than to feel the pain forever. He climbed into the snowy white car. Anastasia smiled at him. “I knew you’d come back.”

“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE US CONSTANTINE! NOT DESTROY US! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE ENEMY! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SOLUTION, THE _ FUTURE! _ ” When he killed Aaron, he thought that he would feel triumph. But instead, he just felt more hollow than ever. “You’re pathetic. You couldn’t even save him, Enemy.” He spat the last word like an insult. He ripped the Alkahest off his arm. He opened his palm and faced this utter disappointment. “If you can’t help me, then you can die.” But Call lived. But why did he get to live when everyone else had died? He felt bitter.

Alex glared at Call from across the table. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t supposed to have a second chance, after all, no one else had gotten a second chance. Why did he? Because he was the Enemy. The Enemy got everything. But even now he couldn’t care about what he was doing. Alex felt anger, he would do whatever it took to make the people that had left him come back. If he became the Enemy, the Enemy that got everything, maybe then everything would be alright. 

Kimiya came back to him. He smiled. Now that he was the Enemy, maybe things were finally going to turn around for him. Kimiya had come back, didn’t she? Now he was the Enemy and things were finally going back to the ways they were supposed to be. Alex didn’t know why Anastasia couldn’t support him now.

The final battle. Alex was furious. He let Call live, and now he made a fool of him. He was going to pay, no matter what Anastasia said. He raised his arms. Then nothing, so much nothing, and everything at the same time.

The chaos, it seeped into his skin and turned his head and his heart around in circles. Nothing was right anymore. The mask of the Enemy was suffocating him now, and the Alkahest burned him. Everything, they had all turned against him. He began to laugh, a choked maniacal sound. If he couldn’t be happy, then why should anyone be able to? The world was going to burn, and he was going to laugh. La Rinconada was destroyed. Alex, no, this thing wasn’t Alex anymore. The Devoured, instead of that horrible empty feeling, it felt glee.

Alexander Strike, he wasn’t a villain, he was a tragedy. And the worst thing was, no one mourned.

**Author's Note:**

> Woot woot! That was a trip! Uh, did you have fun?


End file.
